The City and the Pillar (Vintage International)

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Pardon me," said Estelle, sister of Anthea and Drake. She stood up, arranged her breasts, and returned to the bar.

Jim's wishful delusions about sexuality - early on, that he's not quite so queer, and later on that everyone else isn't quite so straight - are painfully evocative of a couple-year period in my own life. So too was the weird noble-feeling but ultimately self-denying ideal of the Twin/Brother-Lover, with its heroic precedents, free of the sense of ridiculousness and powerlessness that can come with unabashed desire (see also: Car Seat Headrest's Twin Fantasy, Sufjan Steven's "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us", et al.) THE MOMENT WAS STRANGE. There was no reality in the bar; there was no longer solidity; all things merged, one into the other. Time had stopped. Jim decides he wants to go to sea too and becomes a cabin boy on a cruise ship after going to New York City to look for work. Another seaman on his ship, Collins, goes out with him in Seattle, but is more interested in a double date with two girls than in sex with Jim. The date is a disaster for Jim, who must realize that he is unable to drink enough to overcome being repelled by the female body. When he finally storms out, Collins calls him a queer, which causes him to think about this possibility.

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When the two run into Maria Verlaine, a rich and sophisticated friend of Paul in New Orleans, she invites the two of them to go to the Yucatán with her. They accept, and Maria tries to involve Jim in an affair with her. Jim cannot respond, but the incident provides Paul, who is masochistic, with an opportunity to play the wounded one, which he enjoys. For his part, Jim is convinced, after his experience with Maria, that he is not like other men and that his homosexuality is ingrained to the point that he will never be rid of it. The City and the Pillar is a win-win reading experience. Beginning as a fascinating time capsule of gays leading clandestine lives of the don’t-ask/don’t-tell/don’t-even-think-it variety in the 1940s, the novel in its final chapters dares to take on the theme of relations between gay and straight men in America, a civil war that has yet to find its truce. As with so many of Vidal’s books, The City and the Pillar proves to have been insanely ahead of its time.”—Brad Gooch

Jim carries his feelings for Bob for years. He has experiences that define the situation of male homosexuals at this place in time. While one of his partners, Shaw, is a professional actor, Jim notes that people he meets in the gay community are the real Academy Award performers as they manage their families and other social interactions. a b c Vidal, Gore (1995). The City and the Pillar and Seven Early Stories. New York, NY: Random House. p.xiii. ISBN 978-0-679-43699-7. This new edition of The City and the Pillar promises to supply the occasion to recognize the key role Gore Vidal’s extraordinary novel has played in redefining what counts as the sexually normative.”—Donald E. Pease, Dartmouth CollegeKent ve Tuz, içselleştirdiği toplumsal koşullandırmalar doğrultusunda, insanın "doğası" gereği heteroseksüel olmak zorunda olduğunu düşünen, ancak kadınlara karşı da herhangi bir cinsel çekim hissetmeyen genç bir erkek olan Jim’in, homoseksüel çevrelerde farklı ilişki formlarındaki konumlanışını ve kendini arayış sürecini işliyor. Jim’in bu yolculuktaki kılavuzu ise, ilk gençlik yıllarında yakın arkadaşı Bob ile yaşadığı duygusal ve cinsel yakınlaşmanın ideali ve Bob’a günün birinde yeniden kavuşacak olmanın hayali. Vidal's tragic gay love story was no doubt brave and groundbreaking for it's time, but imitators have diminished the story and contemporary readers will likely find the themes cliche. Like so many of his literary contemporaries, the character of Jim struggles to reconcile his physical desires with his yearning to live a "normal" heterosexual life, but Vidal doesn't belabor the point. Instead, he ensconces Jim within the pre-liberation bar scene without defining him by it. Vidal made a concerted effort to sculpt masculine queers - an aim contemporary gay novels don't hold as dear - and while he succeeds at times one wonders if he didn't rely on misogyny to achieve his desired effect. Perhaps, the novel's true legacy is to serve as a document of evolving gay self-identity. Overall, The City and The Pillar merits a read for it's historical importance and for the accuracy of Vidal's prose, just don't expect the same sense of affinity earlier readers found.

this had perhaps one good story in it (the zenner trophy), as well as a couple decent enough ones---the city and the pillar, for one, an example of when fame has more to do with timing than quality (it has interesting things going on in it, but the writing itself isn't great, and the story is iffy and tends towards the ho-hum-get-on-with-it type). i can only hope that his writing style gets better.It's been an awfully hot summer, hasn't it?" She made conversation. He looked at her, wondering if he could ever assimilate her into the world of the booth. He doubted it. For one thing, there was too much of her, and none of it simple. I don't consider any of this description to be a "spoiler" because I've only provided a plot outline, not details and resolutions. But what I have described is the main story arc of the book, and it's a tremendous and promising story. It's not an "uplifting" story, and the apparently one-sided nature of the desire is poignant. There is a vast chasm between its initial lovely moment of ecstasy and its potentially promising renewal. The key is how it gets there, and in the getting there whether it is interesting and emotionally valid. Unbelievable that this book was written -- and that Vidal got it published -- in the 1940s. It enlightened me about the partial freedom available to certain classes of gay men in the 30s and 40s. The coming-out/coming-of-age story seems a little ordinary now, but nobody had done it in America before Vidal, as far as I can tell. His perceptiveness makes it feel fresh. The problems of identity that Jim faces are still common today, and maybe will never disappear. Plus, the story of the teenage dream that dies horribly is applicable to anyone, gay or straight.

Yes, that was what he wanted, something. He nodded and said slowly so that the words would be clear, "Want some whiskey, water, bourbon, water . . . what I been drinking." Parini, Jay, ed. Gore Vidal: Writer Against the Grain. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. A collection of essays by various critics that covers the important works of Vidal’s career. An essay by Claude J. Summers offers insights into The City and the Pillar as gay fiction. Drewey Wayne Gunn, ed. (2003). The Golden Age of Gay Fiction. Albion, New York: MLR Press. p.3 (Ian Young). She looked surprised. "That's right. How did you know?" Suddenly he felt himself in danger of becoming involved in her life, hearing confessions, listening to names that meant nothing to him. He shut his eyes, tried to shut her out.about his sexual nature during his time in the army. Throughout his years of wandering, Jim has thought constantly about Bob Ford, his first lover. Before his discharge, while lying ill in an army hospital, Jim writes to each of the people with whom he has been involved: Bob Ford, Ronald Shaw, Paul Sullivan, and Maria Verlaine. Vidal relates the effect of Jim’s letters on each person who receives one. Kitabın anlatım dili oldukça sürükleyici. Okurken akıp gidiyor, okumaya ara verseniz bile kitap sizi mıknatıs gibi kendine çekiyor. Şüphesiz Fatih Özgüven elinden çıkmış harikulade çevirinin de bunda önemli payı var. He noticed how little light there was. A few shaded bulbs against the walls and that was all, except for the jukebox, which gave not only light but wonderful colors. Red blood, yellow sun, green grass, blue sky. He stood by the jukebox, his hands caressing the smooth plastic surface. This was where he belonged, close to light and color. He quits his job, fearing another confrontation with Collins, and becomes a tennis instructor at a hotel in Los Angeles. One of the bellboys, Leaper, whose advances he has spurned previously, introduces him to the circle around the mid-thirties Hollywood actor Ronald Shaw, who immediately takes interest in Jim. Eventually, Jim moves in with Ronald, even though he is not really in love with him. While trotting along with yawn-inducing Jim on his adventures, we are introduced at the halfway mark in the book to a jaded young writer named Paul Sullivan -- clearly patterned after Vidal himself -- and all of a sudden the life-essence missing heretofore springs up. Paul is a cerebral, interesting character who has thought profoundly about his situation as both an outsider artistic soul and gay man. In characterizing Paul's plight Vidal hits pay dirt, and I kept saying to myself, "Here's the damned book Vidal should have written! Paul is interesting. Paul thinks interes